EP2419069B1

EP2419069B1 - Seating furniture facilitating rising

Info

Publication number: EP2419069B1
Application number: EP10764731.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Håkan Sjögren
Original assignee: Sjogren Hakan
Current assignee: Sjogren Hakan
Priority date: 2009-04-15
Filing date: 2010-04-10
Publication date: 2018-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 2030-04-10
Also published as: EP2419069A4; EP2419069A1; SE533031C2; SE0900494A1; WO2010120225A1

Description

This invention concerns seating furniture intended to make it easier for a person that is handicapped, injured, old or for other reasons have a reduced leg strength to sit down and get up again.

Technical background

When you get up from a chair the muscles both on the front side and the back side of the legs are employed together with the body. In order to get up from seating furniture strength, stability, a certain balance and coordination is required. Every able-bodied person can do this, most of us have done this for our entire lives and everyone else does it in the same way. We all move in essentially the same way when we move, for instance turn in a bed or get up from a chair. A bit simplified one can say that these movements have been learned as entire patterns. Mostly we are unaware of the different parts in a movement. We only have to decide to get up, the body automatically carrying out the required coordinated movements.
But how do you get up from a piece of seating furniture if you are very weak or your back hurts? Some elderly people, for different reasons find it difficult to initiate the previously learned movement patterns. There exist today seating furniture with seats that can be raised and lowered where gas springs or electric motors are used. An example of this is JP 2005-323692 A that concerns a motorized wheelchair that has a tilting actuator at the rear of the seat in the form of a gas spring for tilting the seat when the user is rising, then to be returned when the user is getting seated again. Regretfully the existing furniture tends to be complex and expensive with many links and levers. There exist today chairs with a raising function that provide individual electric control of back rest, leg support. These chairs are intended for persons that need help to get up in a standing position. Separate control of backrest angle and feet support makes easy to find the best sitting position. Such a chair normally has individually controllable rising function and control of foot and back supports. If you due to sickness, age or functional impairment find it difficult to get up a piece of seating furniture with rising aid can be of great help. Since the elderly in an increasing extent are expected to remain in their home environment it is necessary with simple seating furniture that has a rising function and reasonable price. It is also desirable to protect back and leg and prevent thudding when sitting down.

The invention

In view of the above problems and needs the object of the invention is to provide a light and simple seating furniture for facilitating for a person to sit down and get up, in particular for persons with handicap, injuries, high age or reduced leg strength, comprising two separate parts, a support structure and a seat part with seat and backrest, said parts being in the front end joined via a hinge and in the rear end via at least one gas spring, extending up in the backrest, tilting the seat part forward so that the force from the gas spring takes up a part of a user's weight, the lower end of the spring is pivotable in a bracket in the support frame in the rear end of the chair and the upper end of the spring is fastened inside the backrest in order to accommodate a long spring with an extended length that exceeds the double lifting height of the rear end of the seat.
The pushing up of the rear end of the seat part causes the seat part to pivot around the hinge in the front to the end of the spring movement. In this position the seat is inclined forwards.
When we start to sit down in a chair or other furniture we turn so that we have our back towards the front end of the chair and our legs close to the chair. We then bend our knees and lean with our body forward to keep the balance and this bending of the knees is continued until we are sitting on the seat, and then the body can be leaned back against the back rest. For people with reduced leg strength their strength will not be sufficient all the way down and they will simply fall down on the seat sometime during the sitting down movement and of course their leg strength will then not allow them to get up in a reverse movement. This falling down is unpleasant in its lack of control.
With the invention the person intending to sit down in the chair comes in contact with the inclined seat with bottom and thighs and with the back against the backrest early in the above described standard movement for sitting down. When contact has been established the spring will with increasing force assist the legs in holding up the weight of said person during the continued lowering. The required leg force must not increase as when sitting down in a normal chair, but is reduced to a small controlling from the legs until the final intended seating position is reached.
The person wishing to seat himself or herself in the chair can sit down in the normal fashion comfortably and with a justified feeling of safety and control.
When the person is sitting in the chair an essentially reverse and natural movement will bring the person up to a standing position again. A slight leaning forward and a pushing of the feet against the floor will be added to the lifting force of the spring overcoming the weight of the person who in this way will be returned to an almost straight standing position from which he or she has enough power to stand up straight. Also the getting up movement will be executed comfortable and with a justified feeling of safety and control.
Advantageously the gas spring is of the type provided with a locking device that can lock the spring in any position. This means that the inclination of the seat can be locked in any of its possible positions. For instance if the chair is to be used by others who do not need help or if one want the chair to melt in among other furniture when unoccupied it can be locked in its bottom position. This lock may of course also be used if the user can and want to ease forward on the seat so that it does not start to lift due to the reduced lever of the weight of the seated person. The seat can be brought down to this bottom position by anyone heavy enough either by sitting down in the chair or by hanging on the backrest which may provide an increased torque compressing the spring. If the chair is an easy chair you may for instance when drinking coffee, writing or for other reasons whish to sit up more straight you simple lift yourself assisted by the spring to the desired inclination and lock the spring. This also result in a slightly higher seating lever which is of advantage. When getting better from some types of operations it is usual to sit on wedge shaped cushions, the chair can take care of this too. The control of the lock may in a known version comprise a control lever or knob that via wire actuates the lock mechanism. This means that the control lever can be placed where it is most convenient for the user.
The spring is chosen and or adjusted to provide a lifting force that is less than the weight of the person that is to use the chair. In addition to this consideration should also be given to the strength of the users legs. The required initial leg strength should not be to far from the maximum strength of the user in order to maintain a training of the user's legs. This result in an improved self esteem when you find that you can manage by yourself. In order to vary the lifting effect of the spring it may be fastened in one or both ends at slightly different distances from the front end of the chair in order to change the delivered torque exerted on the seat.
The lower end of the spring is pivotable in a bracket in the support frame in the rear end of the chair and the upper end of the spring is fastened inside the backrest in order to accommodate a long spring with an extended length that exceeds the double lifting height of the rear end of the seat. If one spring is used it is preferably placed centrally and if several springs are used a symmetric location is to be preferred.
The seat hinge is preferably a piano hinge (continuous hinge) giving a light and strong front end of the chair.

Examples

Further features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following description of preferred examples of the invention with reference to the drawings. In the drawings Fig 1 depicts an easy chair and Fig. 2 a chair.
The seating furniture in Fig.1 is an easy chair 1 seen from the side. The easy chair comprise a support frame 2 with legs 3 and a seat part 4 with seat 6 and back rest 5. In the front end of the chair a hinge 20 connects seat part and support frame so that the seat part can pivot relative the support frame. Centrally in the rear end of the easy chair 1 a gas spring 7 extends essentially vertically from a bracket in the support frame and up at least slightly more than the compressed height of the gas spring (approximately half the height of the backseat) to a bracket inside the backrest 5 of the seat part 4, allowing the seat part in its bottom position to rest on the support frame.
The gas spring 7 lifts the rear end of the seat so that this is pivoted to a forwards tilted position where the gas spring is fully extended, and the spring serve as a stop for the movement, alternatively an independent and even adjustable stop may be arranged, for instance in the shape of a tape. With the seat and the backrest tilted forward the easy chair is ready to help a person to get seated. The person when beginning to sit down quickly come in contact with back, bottom and thighs against backrest 5 and seat 6. In the continued sitting down movement the spring force is increased helping the legs of the person sitting down to take up the otherwise increasing torque in the knees and the force exerted by the thigh muscles. The lifting force from the gas spring 7 can be adjusted both in the lower end 8 and the upper end 9 to take up the percentage of the user's weight that is needed in order to permit the user to sit down and get up from the easy chair 1 without help from others. The adjustment may simply comprise a number of holes in the spring brackets with different distances to the hinge.
The easy chair is furthermore provided with a control lever 10 connected to a mechanism with which the spring and thereby the seat part 4 can be locked in any end or intermediate position. The armrests are fastened, preferably adjustably, to the seat part supporting the user's lower arms during the movement up and down. Alternatively the armrests may be fastened in the support frame in order to provide a fixed hand support when getting up or down.
The gap between the support frame and the seat part in the raised position of the latter can be covered by an elastic fabric, that due to its elasticity withdraw into the easy chair when the seat is lowered.
In Fig 2 a second embodiment of the invention is shown, here in the shape of a chair. The chair comprise two separate parts, one part being a support part 14 with legs 15 and the second part being a seat part 16. At the front of the chair 13 the two parts are joined to each other via a hinge 21. In the rear end of the chair 13 between the support part 14 and seat part 16 a gas spring 17 is arranged in one or both the rear legs of the chair. The gas spring 17 lifts the rear end of the seat part upward so that this is pivoted around the hinge 21 in front of the chair. The seat part is then inclined forward and the person sitting down in the chair quickly get in contact with back, bottom and thighs. The force from the gas spring 17 can be adjusted in the lower end 19 of the spring to take up the part of the user's weight that is needed in order to allow the user both to sit down and to get up from the chair 13 without help from others. Adjustment can simply be obtained by changing the distance of the lower end of the spring from the floor.
As with the easy chair in Fig 1 the seat part 16 can be provided with a mechanism in the gas spring for locking the seat part in any position. An additional or alternative mechanism may automatically lock the fully lowered position.
The spring or springs may extend down in one or two rear legs of the seating furniture.
The seating furniture according to the invention is simple, light and easily understood and used.
The invention has been described by way of preferable embodiments and exchanges and alteration can be made within the scope of the invention. In the given examples the easy chair and chair are shown with a backrest that has a fixed angle relative the seat. Of course the angle may be adjustable. Likewise the seat height may be adjustable for instance by resting on adjustable ledges or on different ledges with different heights or have differently long legs. Also the shapes of seat and backrest may differ.

Claims

Seating furniture (1) for facilitating for a person to sit down and get up, in particular for persons with handicap, injuries, high age or reduced leg strength, comprising two separate parts, a support structure (2) and a seat part (4) with seat (6) and backrest (5), said parts being in the front end joined via a hinge (20) and in the rear end via at least one gas spring (7), extending up in the backrest, tilting the seat part (4) forward so that the force from the gas spring (7) takes up a part of a user's weight, characterized in that the lower end of the spring is pivotable in a bracket in the support frame in the rear end of the chair and the upper end of the spring is fastened inside the backrest in order to accommodate a long spring with an extended length that exceeds the double lifting height of the rear end of the seat.
Seating furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that the spring (17) or springs extends down in one or two rear legs of the seating furniture.
Seating furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that the force from the gas spring or springs (7; 17)can be adjusted by altering the anchoring points of one or both ends of the gas spring or springs (7; 17) in seat part and or and/or support part respectively.
Seating furniture according to claim 1, characterized in having a catch mechanism that can releasably lock the seat part in its bottom position when this is reached.
Seating furniture according to claim 1, characterized in the gas spring or springs comprising a lock mechanism capable of locking the gas spring or springs in any position.
Seating furniture according to claim 1, characterized in being a chair or easy chair.